Did you have stage fright as a child?

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No I have never had stage fright, I loved being in school plays and talent shows. I only had the usual pre show nerves.

I can remember being chosen to be a narrator at my school's Nativity play when I was five. When my turn came I started shaking and crying and saying,
"I don't want to". And my teacher had to come on stage and take me away.

Since then though, I don't really mind being part of a group on stage however, I don't think I could handle an all eyes on me situation.

I only have this problem if it is a very small audience (4 or less people) but a bigger show/production I could handle. I was in a school play when I was 11 and in all the reherasals I sucked, but when I got on stage for real I just completely forgot about the audience (might be due to the fact I couldn't see them past the bright lights!) and played my part! I expect the ol' ADHD helped a llittle too though...

Could you please explain a bit more of what you mean? What do you mean by "locked up in thoughts"?

I don't think I've ever struggled with stage fright in the usual sense. Just being in social situations at all can make me feel like I'm "on stage" all the time-- I'm conscious of how I sound, how I walk, etc, and I feel like others are watching. So actually being in front of people for a speech or something doesn't feel that different.

Fright stage topic

I was as bold as brass in some situations, and not in others. Certainly not in front of a class. I was terrified, as the bullies would silently, yet noticeably mock me and so I would feel like a fool giving a speech. At one point I too burst out crying (as others have written) and ran out of the class and hid in a closet somewhere. I got over it. So long ago. And I was never shy and always spoke my mind.

Giving a presentation or a workshop in front of many people isn't really a problem.
However I've very little contact with the audience which makes my talks more like a monologue.
I'm somewhat nervous, but well prepared and 'in control' during the talk.

Doing a play on stage or some roleplaying in social classes is more a problem.
Pretending someone else doesn't came easy to me; it somehow takes a lot of 'brain power', perhaps because I have do to a lot of translations between my real self and the person I'm pretending to be. Acting with another roleplayers is even harder, it's like talking to two persons at the same time. I've had some moments in which that real-time thinking was so overwhelming that I couldn't act at all (being "locked-up in thoughts", or frozen). The frightening part is being unable to act for some seconds; being parallized.

Same here. I always preffered being a behind-the-scenes kind of guy. I would rather be the guy running the camera, the editing/mixing board, working backstage, in the sound and light booth....

I definitely had stage fright when I was a child, and still do not like speaking to more than a couple of people at one time. Since I learned how to read when I was very young (age 3), the pastor at our church asked my parents if I would read the Christmas story out of the Bible as part of the Christmas Eve service. My parents thought it was a great idea....I thought otherwise. I can still sort of remember the meltdown I had when Christmas Eve rolled around and my mom was trying to get me dressed for church. Anyway, they found somebody else to read the Christmas story...I didn't want any part of it!

I've had to learn to speak in front of groups of people for various jobs I've had, but the agony I put myself through before a presentation is soooo not worth it!

did someone said stage?

No. I was a diva.

Last edited by PunkyKat on 30 Dec 2009, 1:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

F**k yeah.
I couldn't stand people constantly staring at me watching my every move and hearing every sound I make.

But recently, Im guessing it's starting to go away as I was able to sing in front of a whole class. I was still embarassed afterwards even though several people said they liked it, although I couldn't tell if they were being nice or if they meant it.

But I still can't be in front of people ALONE. I was with two other people when I was singing. But it was still scary.

Ive never had any bad memories that caused my stage fright, just that people were looking at me and I hve always had a problem with that and eye contact.